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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Week 41: Chair and Ottoman Makeover

A few weeks ago we woke up early for some Saturday garage sale-ing, and scored these:

stained but super comfortable. We were intrigued by the price ($5 for both) and sold wen we tested them out.

The fabric was a bit grimy, with paint stains as well as the usual old dirty sweat-like stains. But we knew we could cover it.

And then! She gave us curtains that we could use to cover them! Granted, the curtains had a few paint smears too (she's an artist). I was hopeful we could cut around the paint marks, and the price (4 curtain panels for a buck) made it worth the gamble.

So. To get started on the re-upholstering, I measured all the sides, adding an inch of seams, and a few inches to anything that would need to be pulled under and stapled.

The chair has sides that are shaped like somewhat curvy 'L's. I tipped the chair over, and traced those onto the fabric because I knew I couldn't measure/draw with the same ease that a simple rectangle would allow.

I started by sewing some of the seams, and then fit it to the furniture with the seams on the outside, and pinned as if I was pinning a garment on a mannequin.

For the ottoman, I sewed each of the sides to the top (making a cross) and then pinned all the edges together, making it fairly tight.

The chair was slightly more difficult. I started by sewing the back rest, the seat, and the front to one of the L-shaped sides. Then I laid it on the chair, and pinned the back rest to the seat, and the seat to the front. After sewing those, I fit it back on the chair, and pinned the other 'L,' starting with the corners and turning points, and then pinned between. Lastly, I added the back.

Then we flipped them over, removed the legs, pulled the fabric nice and tight, staple gunned it, and reattached the legs.

The chair fabric was lacking a bit. This was my put-down-the-camera-and-help-me face.

Ta-da! So much cleaner and fresher looking! Happy girl.

They aren't perfect... there's this corner...

...and the fact that the chair fabric is stretched so tight that every time I sit down I half expect all the seams to explode.

But I'm feeling pretty happy with the outcome.

And I'm feeling like I might be able to tackle some clothing design after all of this pinning-to-a-figure business.